Guest Contributor: Michelle Rumney Michelle's Posts - Michelle's Blog This summer I've given a lot of thought to what type of Mastermind Groups I'd like to start or become involved in over the coming months. The question is, is it better to be in a general business group to reach the widest possible range of people, or is it better to narrow down the focus entirely and have specialised groups in particular niches?
Well, that depends mainly on what the purpose of the group is. It's so important when you join or start a group to know why you're joining or starting it. If you don't have a purpose or vision statement for your group, you may find that after 3 or 4 meetings, everyone's just turning up for the coffee - it better be good! Eventually, those who have better things to do will go off and do them and you'll lose the heart of your powerful mastermind.
So between you as a group, make sure you write a short paragraph about what your group's purpose is and read it out loud at the start of every session.
Keep on purpose!
Meanwhile, back to the question of to niche or not to niche. Well, this week, with all that new moon and new season energy around, I'm starting two new mastermind groups - one for photographers and one for writers. The writers want to improve their writing skills and the professional photographers want help with marketing and business development. These are pretty specific groups, niches even. As a coach, it's fairly straightforward for me to prepare some specific exercises and workshop-type activities to get the energy flowing at the beginning.
But will these groups be wide enough to really engage with the spirit of the mastermind, where diversity and difference all adds to the name of the game?
I'm trusting of course that it will - among the writers, there are those that have their work already published and those that are starting from scratch, there are playwrights, novelists, historians and new bloggers... everyone has a unique story and, going back to the group purpose, of course everyone can improve their writing skills, whatever their current level.
The photographers are more of a concern - with their aim of getting help with marketing and business development, even though, like the writers they all have a unique personal story, there's the danger that they will all be at a similar level in their businesses. How many already-successful-in-business photographers are likely to join a group that offers help in making a photography business successful? By defining the group purpose as it is, the ceiling of possibility is already invisibly capped.
What's needed here is a redefined purpose for the group so that it will attract the widest range of experience and diversity among its members as possible. Move the goalposts so that they are a far enough stretch for the people you want to attract and hopefully everyone will benefit.
What are your own experiences of the range within your mastermind groups? Do you find the broader ones more engaging, or the specialist ones, where common problems are faced?
What have been your negative experiences, if any, within the groups you've been part of?
What have been your most valuable experiences, and what do you think was the most important dynamic within that group?
Paying It Forward - Masterminding for a Good Cause
Guest Contributor: Michelle Rumney Michelle's Posts - Michelle's Blog Last month I decided to introduce Mastermind Sessions into the mix within our new Women in Business network. Surprisingly, in a group of around 25 business women with all types of backgrounds and experience, all but one were new to the Masterminding process.
So, to 'prove' the concept and keep it fair to all participants for the first meeting, we agreed that we would focus for the whole of the 60 minutes available on a non-profit organization rather than someone's business; our hostess happened to be involved in a project in Africa and we reasoned if we were all to experiment in sharing and giving our insights and experience, then putting it into a good cause seemed the best way to start.
It was an amazing first challenge to test our Masterminding capabilities; The Shingirirai Trust is a unique grassroots development project in Zimbabwe, Africa, started by a handful of local women to provide education, food and community (and love) for the growing number of children orphaned by HIV-related illnesses. It's main problem is getting funding to keep all the good work going until they reach their goal of being fully self-sufficient. We decided to focus the Mastermind session specifically on generating marketing ideas for raising awareness globally about the project and securing funding for the Trust.
What could the power of 25 women Masterminding in a small seaside village in Spain do for another group of 30 women thousands of miles away in a rural community in Africa?
For me, as Facilitator, it was a daunting session. As you may have experienced for yourself, getting the number of participants right for a Mastermind session can be challenging - the energy and depth can change dramatically if there are too few or too many. I think an ideal number is 8-10 people. But in this case, I'd decided before we started that I wanted the whole group present so that I could show them how Mastermind sessions work and also so that it would be a shared Mastermind experience, rather than breaking off into smaller, more manageable groups. Was I biting off more than I could chew though?
The energy of 25 focused business women in one space is an incredible thing! Once they got started, there was no stopping them - ideas flooded from every corner of the room, from marketeers, from presentation experts, copywriters, project managers, sales and events organisers, artists and coaches. We worked out that between us we had over 300 years of business experience to draw on!! As the ideas flowed, I ran out of flipchart paper while I was writing them down, then I ran out again, and again... we kept this going for 30 minutes.
We took a brief pause and grouped the ideas into possible areas to focus on and then we started on the next phase - WHO do we know between us who could help with any of this? Contacts and more contacts... again the list was more than a single page of the flipchart could handle.
Finally, we concluded, our group batteries having worked in Supercharge mode for the whole hour - enough already! But what had we really achieved?
Within 48 hours, with the help of a small volunteer group that met after the session to work through all the ideas, three main marketing areas had been selected to focus on. And just four weeks have passed but there is a already a new web 2.0 enabled website/blog for the Trust with plans to enable online micro-donations, a dedicated marketing team in place to keep taking things forward and co-ordinate efforts, and a calendar of events and strategies planned already for the next 6 months. Tonight, there's the first fundraising event to celebrate this new phase of energy and help from outside. Next week the website launches in earnest. How this will affect things on the ground in Shingirirai remains to be seen, but all seems like a step change in the right direction.
Meanwhile, having participated and seen it all in action, I've had repeated requests from many women in the network to do some more Mastermind Sessions - this time on their businesses - as soon as possible, and we've scheduled 2 already for next month's networking meeting. I think then, we proved the Mastermind concept that giving, contributing and sharing your expertise and ideas feels good and does good.
So, what is the Masterminding power of 25 when put to a Good Cause? Try it for yourself - how about a Mastermind marathon? Bring in your own favorite non-profits, 3rd Sector Organizations or NGOs and offer them a Mastermind session entirely focused on them. Or team up with another Mastermind group in a different field and combine your skills. Invite a local charity and simply take your group off-topic for a session to focus on something right here where you are where together you could all make a difference.
The possibilities are infinite...
If you'd like to support or find out more about the Shingirirai Trust, please visit : http://www.shingirirai.org/
Guest Contributor: Michelle Rumney Michelle's Posts - Michelle's Blog I'm starting yet another new group next month. Is there any end in sight? How on earth am I going to fit it all into normal working hours? Do I have a strange addiction to formal arenas for communicating?
No, it's because I consistently experience the Value in forming and joining and participating in these amazing groups. It doesn't matter who the members are, or what walks of life or experience they come from, you will always learn from others in meeting, exchanging opinions, ideas, points of view and advice. Always.
I now 'belong' to three such groups, one of which was started by someone else, one of which was started by a friend and one of which I started myself. And I'm just about to start a fourth. All are unique, all are incredibly valuable on both a personal and a business level, and all of them demand a commitment in order to reap these benefits - the simple commitment to show up whenever they're on.
So, just as you think your schedule is maxed out and almost bursting at the seams, I challenge you to take another look at it and ask yourself when you could create an hour somewhere within it - maybe monthly, or every two months, maybe weekly or fortnightly - to network, exchange and think with others. It will pay you back tenfold - to step outside yourself and your own universe for just an hour, which is nothing in the Big Scheme of things - and see what comes.
Make your own contribution to solutions to the Global Crisis by co-creating something new, something that has never existed before -totally unique fresh ideas, using a combination perhaps of wisdom, experience (this isn't the first time there's been a crisis), enthusiasm, naive-ity, curiosity, objectivity, listening, questioning, business acumen, creativity, marketing, thinking out of the box, and too many others to mention...
So, even if you're already in a Mastermind group, or running one, think again... Are we there yet? Thank goodness, no.
Napoleon Hill describes a 'properly chosen Master Mind Group' as '... a group of people who are willing to lend wholehearted aid, in a spirit of PERFECT HARMONY'. In most Mastermind groups that I've been part of so far, this has translated into dynamic pro-active group meetings where we share our experience, brainstorm ideas, discuss concepts and strategies and give each other advice. In short, the free-flow of conversation and debate is, for many, one of the most wonderful aspects of being part of it all.
But this week, on returning home after 6 months abroad, I met with some trusted members of my first ever Mastermind group and we decided to start 2009 with a session that was radically different. The focus would be on lending our 'wholehearted aid' simply by listening to each other - and I mean Listening with a capital 'L'.
The 'rules' were simple - the session was to last no longer than 2 hours. We chose a random object in the room to pass around - whoever held it would become the Speaker, the others would become the Listeners. The Speaker would take up the object and talk, uninterrupted, for as long as they needed about whatever they wanted. The others would just genuinely and completely listen to what they had to say, nothing more:
No questions. No interruptions. No input. No discussion. No advice.
Once the Speaker was done or felt the time was right, they would pass the object to the next person and then they would become the Speaker for as long as they wanted, then onto the next person. And round again - each member would get 3 turns, then the session would be closed.
So, with many reservations (how un-Mastermind! how will we cope without being able to ask questions or give advice?, how will that work? what good will it do?), we began. Here we go again - the Power of the Mastermind! What an amazing session. Somehow, the dynamics of giving support to each other by simply listening, allowed each of us to access our own thoughts and in this case, especially our emotions, in a truly uncommon way. We were all given time to speak our minds without being judged, interrupted or being given well-meaning advice. This allowed us the possibility of being able to talk ourselves round to a different perspective or leaving point during the session, especially over the course of our 3 respective turns. As my coaching manual says, Listening is 'the highest form of hospitality', of the sort that does not set out 'to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place, hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own'.
If there's one thing I love about Masterminding, it's the feeling that anything could (and almost always does) happen in the groups to change or expand your perspective and awareness. How many times a day do you feel you're being truly and deeply listened to by those around you? How often do you really Listen to what your partner or children or friends or colleagues are trying to say? Despite the fact that it's a crucial element to good communication, listening, unlike speaking, reading and writing, is a skill which is little taught and even less practiced in the true sense of the word. So listen up! Try Listening-only in your Mastermind group once in a while - it could be one of the most 'wholehearted' meetings you have together.
So, in one of my Mastermind groups, we've reached the fantastic Epilogue of Napoleon Hill's 'Think And Grow Rich', which we've been reading for the last 10 weeks to focus our sessions and also to generate ideas and discussions. And of all the chapters, this one 'How To Outwit The 6 Ghosts of Fear - Take Inventory of Yourself...' is in my experience usually the most interesting one for a group to take on and it's great for this time of year too - a time when many people like to reflect on the past year and start thinking of what they'd like to achieve in the fresh new year ahead.
It's my favorite chapter of the whole book, where Hill manages to condense his 25 year's work researching the lives and habits of successful people, into a lively, self-help, rollercoaster ride to the end. The six basic human fears, according to Hill, are: Fear of Poverty, of Criticism, of Ill Health, of Loss of Love of Someone, of Old Age and of Death. Hill details these Fears at length, including their symptoms, so that you can 'determine which, if any, of the six common fears have attached themselves to you', and while he doesn't mention Fear of Falling Share Prices or Fear of Redundancy specifically, these are definitely covered in one or more of the other Fears. It's reassuring too, that a book written in the 1930s after the Great Depression is so relevant today - it's nothing new.
If the Six Ghosts of Fear aren't enough to provoke a discussion, next up Hill introduces us to Old Man Worry and The Devil's Workshop (how to protect yourself from the negative influence of other people) - all food for thought, especially in these Credit Crunch doom and gloom media times. If any of your members are just about to loose their nerve in starting a new venture, going for a promotion, or taking any sort of 'risk', this is all good advice for pepping up their spirits and keeping their Big Picture a great one.
But the best part of all is the section entitled '57 Famous Alibis by Old Man If'. Someone should turn this into a Mastermind Group Party game - it could be fun!... The first player thinks of a great idea - a desire or goal they've wanted to achieve for a while, then the other group members take it in turns to guess which of the 57 Famous Alibis 'IF only I had time, 'IF times were better', 'IF I were only younger'... etc.' are the reason they haven't achieved it yet - it's bound to be in Hill's list - even our excuses aren't original.
Seriously though, if reading or discussing the concepts in this chapter doesn't boot every member of your group enthusiastically, No-Excuses or feeling sorry for themselves, into a zero limits positive frame of mind for next year, I don't know what will. What a great Christmas present...
In my current mastermind group, we're using Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" as a springboard for focusing each week's session. This week's chapter is 'Imagination: The Workshop of the Mind' (incidentally, the fifth of Hill's thirteen Steps Toward Riches). It's a great chapter, full of examples of individuals coming up with a single idea and running with it because they successfully engaged their own imaginations. Instead of seeing the problems and all the reasons why a thing can't be done, they sought to find solutions, ways round seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and thus brought their ideas into reality.
One of my favourite stories in the whole book is in this chapter, where a clergyman has a great idea to set up a new college that taught skills to young people via a 'learn by doing' approach rather than the academic norm, opening up education to all, not just those who liked textbooks. The project would cost 1 million dollars (in 1937- an enormous sum), but he had no idea how to get that amount of money, and so for two years he did nothing except think about it and say 'my idea is a good one, but I have cannot do anything with it because I do not have the necessary million dollars.' Then one day, he just had enough of thinking and he decided there and then that he would get the money he needed to do it within a week. And of course he gets it and he sets up the Armour Institute of Technology. (To find out how he raised the money, you'll have to get curious and read the book!)
The point is, what would you do with a million dollars right now? Or 10 million? Or 100 million?
Try asking this at your next Mastermind Group session and see where it goes. Do any of you have a million dollar idea? When I say a million, I don't mean the amount it will cost, or the amount it will earn, but in the 'million dollar' value (ie. beyond money value) that it will have to other people - the ones who will benefit as a result of this idea. Don't think business or start-ups or ROIs for a change. Start a lively debate, generate ideas together, play - have some fun with this one and truly engage your imaginations - let them fly.
Hill reminds us "Through the faculty of Creative Imagination, the finite human mind has direct communication with Infinite Intelligence.It is the faculty through which "hunches" and "inspirations" are received.It is by this faculty that all basic or new ideas are handed over to us. It is through this faculty that "thought vibrations" or "influences" from the minds of others are received.It is through this faculty that one individual may "tune in" or communicate with the subconscious minds of others."
By asking the Million Dollar question and taking 'real' money out of the equation, the session could lead in all sorts of directions, go anywhere - that's the amazing thing about Masterminding - it all depends on the sparks between you and the energy you can co-create.
As I touched on last month, one of the strongest principles of Masterminding is the sharing of ideas - that more heads put together are better than one. When I first joined a group, I thought of this from my own point of view, in so far as that one of the benefits of joining would be hearing other people's points of view and creative ideas on whatever we were discussing.
I'd like now to turn that idea on it's head and advocate Paul Martinelli's advice, that when you start each Mastermind session, ask not what you will get out of it for yourself, but what you can contribute to the group. Reminding everyone of this at the top of a session helps everyone frame the right mindset to really put the most into, and thus get the most out of, masterminding in the true sense of the word.
We live in a free market society, and at the moment 'crisis' seems to be the keyword of the moment. Old adages like 'every man (or woman) for themselves', 'it's a dog-eat-dog world', and 'tough call' spring to mind. This perpetuates a general mindset of scarcity and a win-lose mentality that we could well do without if we are all to get through these challenging times.
Masterminding is about cooperation, exchange and collaboration. This creates a win-win mentality and fosters a mindset of abundance. This is a much more productive tool with which to move forward and create active, thriving businesses, generating creative ideas for new solutions, better services, different products.
So do your bit and defy the credit crunch, all you Masterminds out there! Think abundance, contribute openly, without fear, and know that in doing so you're one of the true pioneers able to see limitless opportunities in this ever-changing reality...
Thanks for inspiration to Joe Vitale for featuring 'Killing Sacred Cows' by Garrett B. Gunderson on his blog - it's a great book!
This week marked a major milestone in our family; our youngest son, Theo, who's three, started school, joining his older brother in an expanding world of new people and new experiences. Despite having no friends yet, he took it all in his stride and the only thing that upset him was the fact that he'd dropped his 'Treasure' (a smooth piece of green glass found on the beach) on the classroom floor and broken it in two.
This week also marked an important almost diametrically opposite milestone for me; my first trip back home to familiarity in four months, and my first physical chance to re-connect with the members of my first Mastermind group. In my own expanding world of new people and new experiences, set in motion by a recent career decision, there is still very much time and room for these cornerstone relationships built on trust and alignment.
So I've just spent the most wonderful weekend catching up with all their news and finding out how our various summers panned out. A common theme seemed to be coping with changing family dynamics - for instance, one parent working away to support the rest of the family, an elder child starting senior school far from home, a new baby arriving, or the whole family re-locating to a different country. All weekend we've listened and empathised and listened and talked and shared picnics and barbeques and generally just hung out with each other and each others' families. My overwhelming feeling is that we're all going through these challenges somehow together. For me, this shared weekend touching base was fantastic, re-energising and so positive - real food for the soul. And from the conversations with the others at the school gates this morning, I know the feeling is mutual.
On the plane back to the current focus of my ever-expanding world, I was reading 'Think and Grow Rich' in preparation for a new Mastermind Group I'm starting in my new workplace later this week. Of course, I found some relevant words from Napoleon Hill: 'A group of brains coordinated (or connected) in a spirit of harmony will provide more thought-energy than a single brain, just as a group of electric batteries will provide more energy than a single battery'... when a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance is available to every individual brain in the group.'
With this concept in mind, I'm excited to see how this next Mastermind group will work. My new group is totally different in terms of people's backgrounds, present situations, experience, goals and outlook. Will the energy created be more? less? different? Will we be able, as colleagues but essentially as strangers, to achieve the level of harmony and coordination that Hill is referring to? If it's anywhere close to the Mastermind Battery effect I've experienced within my home MM group, something I never expected when I started the group, then shouldn't we all be starting groups wherever there's an appropriate opportunity and generating more energy for everyone all round? And if we taught Mastermind concepts and practice to our kids and in their schools, think how powerful this would be - a real tool for growing, learning and contributing?
Which reminds me, don't worry - Theo's green Treasure has since been fixed by his doting grandfather, ready to brave another tomorrow with him in his strange new world. That is, until he makes some new friends...
It's one thing starting a Mastermind Group, but quite another thing maintaining it and keeping the momentum going, especially if, like me, you're an EFNP in the Myers-Briggs sense of the word - ie. really good at starting many things, but not so good at the follow-through.
I started our original Mastermind Group in a small seaside village almost a year ago. Originally we met physically, each taking a turn to host the group in our homes on a weekly basis. A few months in, the commitment in the group was still going strong, but the momentum and energy in the actual sessions was waning. We took a democratic decision and voted to open the group up to some new members. That turned out to be a good decision all round and interestingly, the polarity reversed - now the energy in the sessions was better, but the commitment seemed a little less, with an absentee or two every week.
A few months into that, and the dynamics changed again - this time partly as a result of the Mastermind process itself - people's situations were clearly moving. Some were launching new businesses or going after better jobs elsewhere, others had changes afoot in their relationships or family circumstances. The one thing that is certain in life is change, right? And in Mastermind Groups the pace of change can be truly dramatic - sometimes it's just really difficult to keep all your balls in the air!
So, the next bridge to cross in order to keep this wonderful group of supportive individuals Masterminding with each other, was coping with physical separation - this is old hat to those of you who run your Mastermind Groups via conference calls, but to us it was all an exciting experiment. We tried using Skype in a few sessions, which was great, and we tried scheduling phone calls, but the small number of the group left in the village didn't seem to be able to get the same energy together to treat the phone meetings with the same commitment as the physical ones, so it only took a few no-shows that end and us 'satellite' members had nothing actually to join in with. Sometimes, despite best efforts, you just can't keep all the balls in the air, but I've decided that this is actually OK in the big scheme of things.
Finally, by default, we resorted to group emails. I sent a daily mail out for about 6 weeks with some pro-active ideas for personal and business development, so that at least we were all thinking together, if not actually meeting or talking. While the replies were sporadic, as everyone coped in their own ways with the long school vacation over the summer (most of us have kids), they were also hugely positive and uplifting. This again is an interesting dynamic - most of the group members were actually having the hardest time for a long while - the honeymoon periods of their various moves being over and a whole new set of challenges presenting themselves. It's rewarding to know that, when the going gets tough, giving a word of support to another group member somehow helps you keep all your own balls in the air too.
As in the business world, it seems that managing change within a group, large or small, 'professional' or not, is a constant tall order, requiring commitment and some sort of cohesion or glue to keep you together. It's also one of the most difficult things to get right. But, if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that these group dynamics will change again and again in the future, so if you have any experiences or suggestions for how you've coped with change in your own groups, post them here and share them!
Recently, we started an experiment regarding the scope of our mastermind group. We are basing much of the content of our weekly meetings around the ideas raised in Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich". Hill recommends following a 6-step plan of sustained action to achieve your Burning Desire, and so far all of us have failed in our personal attempts to follow this advice.
So, we decided as a group to foster action by adding a weekly Power Morning to our schedule. The principle seems simple enough - each week those of us who can spare a few hours meet up to generously give our time and individual skills to help a specific member of the group to take action towards their personal business goals. The member in question is required to do a little pre-planning on this of course, so that on the day they can confidently direct the rest of us to make best use of our time and energies. The ideal scenario is that we have an action-packed, dynamic morning, creatively and harmoniously drawing on each others' talents propelling us forward on our quests...
However, in practice, it isn't quite working out as we'd all imagined. The first participant overslept (very uncharacteristic of her) and was ruffled and unprepared when the mastermind team arrived at her studio raring to go. The morning was consequently a bit disorganised and much less productive than it could have been, leaving the group feeling a bit flat. The second session was organised and productive, but it was a little unclear to the group exactly what purpose their actions served, so they questioned the value of contributing their precious time. And the third session was ambitious, in that the participant planned everyone's individual tasks down to the letter, except that the tasks more suitable for a week of action rather than a few hours, so the general feeling was of disappointment or frustration of being asked to do too much and not being able to complete what was started.
Although the Power Mornings from the group's point of view are focused on giving generously and gratefully, rather than what we can get out of them, and as such are based on a worthy ethos, my intuition tells me that in this case the Power Mornings will have to go. Meeting up twice a week with the same particular group is, it turns out, a huge time commitment that could turn into a chore rather than something we all look forward to. And becoming more directly involved in each other's businesses changes the dynamics of the actual mastermind session itself - it makes the process more personal and subjective; it risks losing the more objective and constructively-critical viewpoints we started out with that are so valuable when exchanging ideas and coaching members to find solutions and ways forward.
Achieving the right frequency for your group might take a little experimentation to find out what works, but getting the balance right is crucial if the group is to survive and continue to strengthen and develop.
As the initiator of the Mastermind Group I attend every week, I had the idea at the beginning that somehow I was responsible for it, in the sense that I had started it and I was leading it forward and so I had to be present at every session to inform, guide, facilitate, structure, focus, energize, etc. Even though I often invite another member of the group to lead a session, or co-facilitate it, or run a workshop or whatever, and we're a very supportive and pro-active group as a whole, essentially I've felt up to now that I'm the one providing the MM service for the others.
This week though, I failed on every level to do any of those things; I forgot my notes, I hadn't made the time to plan the session ahead of time, and was generally so preoccupied with my own life that I got to the session in a state very different than my usual relaxed, prepared and positive self. Immediately after I stuttered some sort of opening sentence, the group, and I mean the group, not just an individual, asked me what was wrong and what was bothering me - after 7 months of meeting every week, and sharing our thinking and ideas, it's easy enough to tell if someone isn't on their usual form.
So, I apologized and described the business problem I'd had that week and the stress I'd experienced as a result by way of explanation. How great then is the power of the Mastermind? The next thing I knew, everyone in the group had a personal experience about that aspect of business to share to try and help me. Over the course of the next hour, contributions came from everyone in the form of practical advice, suggestions for possible solutions, examples of different outcomes exampled in similar situations, albeit in completely different industries, lots of questions and a lively open discussion about my particular situation and how I might approach it. It was such a useful session that I took notes - there was so much to take in and remember. I thanked everyone at the end - I was so grateful for everyone's input to my problems and apologized again for being off-form/off-plan.
Attitudes towards attending a MM group are so important for the group to function at a true Mastermind level - I have always asked people to remember to think not "what did I get out of that?" after a session, but "what did I give or contribute to that?". I felt almost guilty after this session that I'd got so much out of it and hadn't really given anything except the problem to discuss. Over the next few days though, I got calls one by one from the group - to see if I was OK, to see how my problem/solution was going, but mainly to say 'thanks' and to let me know that it was one of the most enjoyable and useful of our sessions to date as the subject was something relevant to anyone in business, ie. all of us in our particular group.
I'm just so grateful now to have found the Mastermind process and to be able to participate in it and continue to learn from it and contribute to it in whatever capacity I can.
So, we had our first Mastermind Group meeting of 2008 in January and I posed the question "has anyone set themselves any Big Hairy Audacious Goals for 2008 yet?". And the unanimous answer was "not really". To a certain extent I expected this - we all have young children, who have only just returned to school after the holiday and we're all here in Andalucia, Spain, where the general answer to most things is "manana" (tomorrow), so no need to put yourself under too much pressure then...
But another part of me was disappointed - where were my crew of previously keen, go-getting, dynamic, entrepreneurial business women? As the meeting warmed up though, it turned out that actually we had all set some goals for ourselves, though mostly not the Big ones that I was suggesting we could.
What is a goal anyway? And does setting them help? In life coaching terms, a goal is a statement of something that you intend to do in the future within a given timeframe. Writing your goals down is a standard approach to helping you realize your dreams , your ambitions, your desires. A popular version is SMART goal setting - Specific, Measurable, Attainable and Realistic within a certain Time. This seems very sensible indeed, but maybe a goal that you already know is within your capability isn't the thing that's really going to inspire you.
Are we being too easy on ourselves? In "Think and Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill encourages you to write down your Burning Desire and say it out loud every day to yourself as a form of Autosuggestion to help it become a reality. His focus is on the things that you don't know for sure that you can achieve - the big dreams, the ones that require a certain amount of faith and risk and hope and a step into the unknown. Choosing a path of true growth indeed.
Maybe it's a just question of definition? Bob Proctor in his article "Purpose, Vision, Goals" asks you to differentiate between your Vision and your goals, the goals being the daily little steps you take towards achieving your bigger picture. Getting your Vision right is the important thing, then setting the right goals is clearer and as a result you're more likely to achieve them.
Maybe it's actually all a question of language? The word "goal" turns some people off immediately, including my partner, David, who prefers to use gentler words like 'aspiration'. To him, the word 'goal' seems corporate, definitive, inflexible, and too black & white. Think of a soccer player scoring a goal - it's direct, all action. An 'aspiration' is more flexible - it allows along the way for change, inspiration, sensitivity and a journey of pure potential. Joe Vitale has an interesting post on his blog on a similar theme: http://blog.mrfire.com/secret/why-i-gave-up-intentions/
Certainly traditional goal-setting as a concept doesn't work for lots of people - it's just doesn't get them excited or propel them forward, so as a personal or business development tool it's unlikely to help. How many people do you know who actually manage to fulfill their New Year's resolutions?
So, before you go full steam ahead on your resolutions or goals for 2008, why not step back for a moment and consider taking a slightly different approach? Perhaps there's a way of thinking about what you want to achieve which will ultimately suit you or your business better.
Our little mastermind group (5 of us) down here in a small seaside village on the southern coast of Spain is to me like a fledgling - a new bird learning to fly: a bit wobbly and clumsy, and probably looking quite funny from the outside, but determined to do it all the same and also pre-programmed deep down to know how to, once it can get all its bits working in harmony with each other.
We've grown been reading Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" over the last 9 weeks. Next week we'll be discussing the last part - the Epilogue: 'How To Outwit the 6 Ghosts of Fear'. Our cosy little book club is about to transform itself into something beyond that - into a support group for real action in the real world. Will it fly?
I hope so and I believe so. Through the last 10 weeks, we've been meeting for a couple of hours a week to discuss the concepts chapter by chapter in Hill's fantastic book - with the help and guidance of a great set of notes on TGR written by Paul Martinelli of Life Success Inc.- thank you Paul! In doing so, the group has formed it's own dynamic, which is, of course, greater than the sum of its individual parts and which already seems to be taking on its own momentum.
As initial facilitator of this, the first ever Mastermind group I've been associated with, I had no idea what to expect or what would happen as a result of starting it. My intuition just told me it was a good idea and that even if it was a short-lived one, that only good could come of it. And even now, without 'properly' testing a thing, I know I was right.
I know that as individuals, our patterns of thinking have been changed and will continue to change and become more powerful in directing our lives and our businesses - they already are. At the moment, it's apparent mainly in small things - in details like the words we choose to use when we express things, or the (positive) ideas we'll suggest when people ask for opinions or advice, but these small changes are part of a much bigger picture of change.
I know also that collectively, we have come in a very short space of time to reach an understanding of what we're all meeting for - what the group is meant to do - apparent from the beaming smiles we all have when we arrive at a meeting. Yes, there's work to do, and we're doing it, but it's also fun, much like learning to fly, I imagine.
So if any of you out there are thinking of starting or joining a group. Don't procrastinate, just do it ! With the support of a group, you'll all be learning to fly in no time...
EvanCarmichael.com is the world's #1 website for small business motivation and strategies. Evan also runs a series of successful Mastermind Groups in Toronto for entrepreneurs.
